Lady Tigers sweep past LFL and Burns in nail biter

Cory Griffith
Posted 3/3/17

The Lusk girls basketball team finally got back to back wins, and their first win over a 2A team last weekend.

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Lady Tigers sweep past LFL and Burns in nail biter

Posted

The Lusk girls basketball team finally got back to back wins, and their first win over a 2A team last weekend. Despite the completely different types of games played, NCHS seems to be getting healthy and confident as conference play begins.

While NCHS-LFL games are traditionally rough-and-tumble affairs, the teams were put on notice early that it would be called very tightly by the officials. The Lady Doggers took a 14-9 first quarter lead but the more telling stat was 19 total fouls called. Multiple starters from both teams were in immediate foul trouble and depth from the bench slowly became the difference for Lusk. This opened up scoring opportunities as Mattie Pfister and Sadie Sturman sank three pointers and Taylor Gaukel scored an old fashioned three point play to get NCHS within 27-26 at halftime.

With foul trouble growing for both teams NCHS sophs Gaukel, Christianson, Blackburn and Sturman carried the load in the second and third quarters with 21 points. The Lady Tigers took the 38-35 lead into the final quarter. After three LFL starters fouled out and a technical on the bench, Trisha Hales led the Lady Tigers on a 17-9 run for the 55-44 win.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

NCHS 8 18 12 17  55

LFL 14 13 8 9  44

TEAM STATS

NCHS: 18/46 FG, 2/9 3PT, 17/30 FT, 37 REB, 24 PF, 13 TO

LFL: 13/38 FG, 3/11 3PT, 15/28 FT, 35 REB, 21 PF, 16 TO

NCHS PLAYER STATS: Scoring- Taylor Gaukel 14, Hales 10, Amanda Smith 10, Kianna Blackburn 6, Pfister 5, Ashley Christianson 5, Sturman 3, Makayla Waldock 2. Rebounds- Smith 10, Gaukel 9. Good Sportsmanship player of the game - Smith.

While the Lady Tigers didn’t get off to a blazing start against Burns, a Gaukel triple helped NCHS to an 11-6 first quarter lead. The second period was the turning point as Smith and Hales found room underneath against the smaller, inexperienced visitors. The junior pair combined for 13 points as the halftime lead grew to 26-9.

After the break Lusk continued to push the tempo and lead to 37-13 after three. A little sloppy play in the fourth was not enough for Burns to catch up in the 49-23 win for NCHS.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

BURNS 6 3 4 10  23

NCHS 11 16 11 12  49

TEAM STATS

BURNS: 8/35 FG, 0/3 3PT, 7/19 FT, 33 REB, 28 PF, 26 TO

NCHS: 14/48 FG, 1/3 3PT, 18/31 FT, 39 REB, 21 PF, 16 TO

NCHS PLAYER STATS: Scoring- Hales 12, Gaukel 11, Smith 11, Gilkey 10, Christianson 4, Sturman 1. Rebounds- Smith 9, Gilkey 5, Sturman 5, Hales 5. Steals- Sturman 6. Good Sportsmanship player of the game - Smith.

To tip off 2017 the JV beat Newcastle 39-20, lost to Tongue River 42-39, lost to Big Horn 42-24 and beat Shoshoni 29-16. Last weekend they beat Burns 38-36. Christianson led with 17 points while Waldock added eight, Mathilda Schmidt scored six and Makenna Engelker five. 

The C squad faced Burns in one quarter and won 21-2. Schmidt scored eight while Jhuritzy Tena added six. They traveled to Guernsey for the Frosh-Soph tournament Monday night. After beating Wheatland 44-28, they followed it up with a 46-30 win over G-S.

This week the Lady Tigers travel to Southeast Fri. for games at 4 and 5:30 p.m. before Wyopreps top-ranked Pine Bluffs comes to Tiger Gym on Saturday. JV is set for 1 before varsity at 2:30 p.m.